As many people are now aware, the difficulty or inconvenience of carrying oversized objects in a vehicle has been mitigated through the use of modular vehicle roof rack systems which allow oversized objects to be carried on the roof-top of a vehicle.
A modular vehicle roof rack system comprises (1) two parallel bars mounted to a vehicle roof-top, (2) a plurality of modules or adapters which allow for different objects to be carried on the roof top, and (3) an attachment apparatus for attaching or anchoring the modules or adapters to the parallel bars.
More specifically, a modular vehicle roof rack system comprises two parallel bars laterally placed and longitudinally spaced across a vehicle roof-top, along with interchangeable modules which attach to the bars of the roof rack. The bars act as a supporting foundation for the attachment and detachment of different types of modules. The interchangeable modules allow the user to carry different types of oversized objects on the roof of the vehicle which might otherwise be difficult or inconvenient to fit inside the vehicle. Various modular attachments which are presently available allow the user to carry different objects such as skis, surfboards, canoes, bicycles, etc.
The benefits of carrying skis in a modular vehicle roof rack system, and the existence of such a modular vehicle roof rack system as described above are well known in the art. However, there are some disadvantages with the existing designs.
For example, in order to carry a different type of oversized object, the user must first remove the presently attached module, and then attach a different module to the parallel roof rack bar. The convenience of having interchangeable attachments is substantially lost by the inconvenience involved in making such changes. Some models even require the user to detach the bars from its car mount so that the module, which is to be replaced, may be slid off the bar and replaced with a different module. Furthermore, many of the designs presently available either require tools to detach and attach various different modules or are poorly designed in that the module attaching device is unnecessarily complex and expensive to manufacture. U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,362 illustrates the level of complexity of design to which those in the art have gone to create a mounting device.
Another disadvantage with the existing designs deals with a ski rack's inability to carry ski poles in a simple and convenient manner. U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,031 attempts to solve this problem, but fails to do so in a simple and convenient manner. In the '031 design, rectangular apertures which were designed to hold the ski poles in place are located on the upper arm of the ski rack. This design forces the user to balance the ski poles in position until the upper arm can be quickly closed before the ski poles fall out of position. This race against gravity is not always won by the user, and the user is thus forced to re-position the ski poles in another attempt.
A further disadvantage of the existing designs deals with the hinge assembly used to connect the upper and lower arms of the ski racks. Many prior designs incorporate a spring mechanism which causes the upper arm to pop up when the lock assembly is released. However, this spring serves no further purpose. The user eventually had to throw the upper arm past the vertical or constantly hold up the upper arm in a raised position in order to insert the skis into the ski rack unobstructed. The metal springs used in these prior existing designs also tend to rust or corrode, leading to further uselessness.